SOUTH KOREA TO HOST SYRIA IN WCQ

Asian side South Korea are set to host Syria in a World Cup qualifying game in the capital, Seoul, the national football federation announced.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the meeting between both sides is billed for March 28 at 8pm.

South Korea are bidding for a place in the World Cup next year in Russia. The Syria match would be their seventh in Group A of the final Asian qualification round. The game would also be the first home match for South Korea in 2017. The Asian footballing nation would play China ahead of the game on March 23.

After three victories, Korea are in second place with ten points. They played a draw and lost a game, leaving them one point behind Iran. China, Syria, Qatar, and Uzbekistan are also in the group, slugging it for a spot in 2018. Only two teams would earn automatic qualification while a third would go through playoffs to get a spot in the finals.

South Korea’s match with Syria last September ended in a goalless draw. Before then they were on an eight game winning run, dating from the earlier round of the qualifiers. They would be planning to get their pound of flesh whilst boosting their chance to get automatic spot.

Korea are bidding to restore the national football team to previous heights. They reached the last four in 2002 when they were joint hosts but they have found it difficult to match such heights of recent. They remain among the favourites to finish in the top two – the target of the team – as they want to avoid a playoff with the CONCACAF team.